Dometic Refrigerator thermal fuse

lhetsler

Well-known member
I was on a trip recently and the refrigerator completely shut down. No light no nothing. After much seaching I found a little black reset button on what must be a thermal fuse attached to the flue. Pushing the button reset everything and it was fine for the rest of the trip. But on the way home it blew again. Seems to blow while moving. It has never blown while at camp. All I could find in the manual was a statement that if this fuse ever shuts off that it is a non replaceable part and means that your cooling unit needs replacement.

I just scratched my head wondering if maybe a 39 cent thermal fuse could be the problem instead of immediately buying a new cooling unit in the hundreds of dollars.

Anyone out there have this experience.
 

DougS

Doug S
I would look for loose electric connections or perhaps a connection too close to another connection since it appears to only blow during movement. Some of us had problems with wire crushing when closing the walls, but that seems to be 2011 units and that blow the fuse in the 12 volt circuit box. Happy hunting.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Les:
I have the same rig and have not had this problem. I thank you for letting me know this thermal fuse exists.
RV refrigerators have a long history of being the source of RV fires, due to the propane flame boiler. I think this cutout switch in the flue is a fire precaution, which should shut off the 12 volts DC to the propane gas valve on the refrigerator if a fire happens, and cut off the propane gas to the fire.
If there is no evidence of fire or overheating, I would change out the switch.
 
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